Floor Plan Portal Pilot

Client: Department of Health, New York City
Project: Floor Plan Portal Pilot

Challenge:
The Department of Health (DOH) in New York City is responsible for the safety of the city, from coordinating emergency responders out to critical locations, to reporting radiation on a federal and local level throughout the city. In the case of an emergency, the critical challenge that presented itself for the city was the lack of geographic information-sharing across the safety agencies. Each agency had their own geographic information collected, yet other responders couldn't determine the correct location of the emergency without accurate, up-to-date floor plans, which were often stored in warehouses or cumbersome files.

In reporting radiation, the DOH is responsible for collecting data on the amount and location of the radiation in order to appropriately address the problem. This reporting is typically done by driving suitcases and PDA devices out to several sampling points around the city. The problem came when the data collection had no way to capture geographic information. It was nearly impossible to tell where the sample came from within the building, making clean up difficult, costly and less than accurate. As a follow on to these issues, a third need was that of geographic information systems (GIS) "on the fly" to enable the agencies to gather and access information from anywhere while in action and whenever necessary.

Penobscot Bay Media's Solution:
Penobscot Bay Media responded to the needs of DOH with a Floor Plan Portal pilot application that is delivered via a web interface. The Portal is designed to provide emergency responders and approved city agency staff the ability to upload and georectify digital floor plans. Once uploaded, the floor plans can be searched by building or location and floor plans may be downloaded for immediate use. The downloaded images can then be transferred to a mobile device. Once the image is on the mobile device, responders can accurately document problem areas, such as a radiation leak within a building.

The Floor Plan Portal pilot has proven to be invaluable with interagency communication and data sharing, giving agencies the freedom of collecting accurate data and accessing it when and where necessary. The potential for this application is large and will likely expand to other agencies in the near future.